Amazed by Amazing Grace

I changed my usual Sunday routine I have been doing for the past few weeks for a change. Instead of attending the 5:30pm mass, I attended the 12:30pm mass and instead of going to the gym, I decided to watch the movie, "Amazing Grace".

After mass, I went to Lido Theater, got my movie ticket and then had lunch while waiting for the start of the movie. A woman shared my table. She is Filipina. As a usual Filipino custom, I said the courtesy line "Kain tayo (Let's eat)" before starting on my pizza.She smiled and as I have expected, she gave the courtesy reply of "Sige, kumain na ko (It's ok, I've eaten.) She told me she had just eaten some bread because she's waiting for her aunt who will treat her for lunch. I learned she was a maid and so was her aunt and that she's just been from her part time job and her aunt was on hers at the moment as well. Thus, I've learned now how this "part-timing" is a usual thing for the maids here because it is what actually makes them earn enough. Now that explains to me how the maids can actually get by with their S$300 monthly salary, this amount is not even enough to cover my monthly expense on rent and utilities. Sunday, which is their off day, they spend doing part time job for people who hire household help on per hour basis, usually about S$10-12 per hour. She said not all employers allow their maids to do part timing, she said she was just lucky that her employers are quite kind. (She is indeed lucky because I know that usually maids here only get one day off per month). She said she was looking for another part time job for the afternoon to have better use of her freetime, rather than spend it just sitting around unproductively. She also told me about witnessing two Filipina maids who used to be friends but then violently quarrelled and pulled each other's hairs in public over a boyfriend who left one for the other. She said having the boyfriend was a big deal, because whoever has the boyfriend will of course have the monetary benefits. (Yes,I understand this very well having witnessed some time of another Filipina who proudly introduced her boyfriend to another Filipina, and told her "Mabait yan, binibigyan ako weekly ng S$20 dollar load (He's kind, he gives me S$20 load every week (for the cellphone credits). She said she's embarrassed for them, because they even quarrelled and spoke in English,which made the other people understand the cause of their fight.

At 3pm I said goodbye to her and I went inside the cinema. I took my seat and looked around. I noticed most of those watching were not locals but European families with children. For a moment I doubted if I was at the correct cinema, I was thinking maybe I was in the one showing the Shrek movie.

It turned out I was at the correct cinema because I found myself restraining from crying throughout the movie and it wasn't easy at all. I realized then where the metaphor of having a lump building in your throat came from, it was the literal feeling when you are at the verge of crying. I have been listening to the song "Amazing Grace" by Jars of Clay for the past weeks and tt has become my morning song as I go to work. When I saw the ad for the movie "Amazing Grace" which says, "Behind the song you love is a story you will never forget", I thought it was the same song, since Jars of Clay is a Christian band and they sing Gospel songs. But I learned that the Amazing Grace song in the movie was the old song from 18th century England, which is still sang up to now in churches, it did sound familiar to me. I learned that this song was by John Newton, who was a captain of a slave ship for many years, until he had a religious transformation and became an evangelical pastor. He has been William Wilberforce's mentor and this movie was about how William Wilberforce devoted his life to abolish African slavery in England. This movie was about how faith, friendship, love and respect for all people made it possible for the world to become a better place, about how not to give up when you know you are fighting for a good cause.

I am so overwhelmed with the beauty of this story that I don't know how I could write the appropriate words to express what I feel. I urge you then to visit the official website and watch the trailers. The website also tells us that William Wilberforce's work is far from finished because modern slavery still happens today and that we can help in abolishing this as well.

As I end my day, may I ask, have you ever experienced when everything that happened seemed like it was meant to happen because everything made sense and seemed interconnected?

I did today.

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Want to know about how you can help abolish modern day slavery? I invite you to visit The Amazing Change website.